Australian crime-writer Peter Corris

Peter Corris has often been called the Godfather of contemporary Australian crime-writing and the master of the meanest Sydney streets. Cliff Hardy is just one of his creations -- there's Ray Creepy Crawley and there's Luke Dunlop and there's Richard Browning -- and at 65 Peter Corris has now published his 31st Cliff Hardy novel. Mr Hardy has been stripped of his investigator's licence and he's had an appeal denied. But then something happens to make him investigate, regardless of having his ticket removed.